The License This! Competition, produced by the licensing industry’s trade show organizer, the Global Licensing Group, and industry trade association, Licensing International, announced the Competition’s 2021 judge panel comprised of 18 senior executives from every corner of the industry. Among the world-renowned companies and licensing agencies represented on the judging committee includes Bioworld Merchandising, Boat Rocker Studio, Crayola, FYE, Hallmark, Licensing International, Lisa Mark Associates, Product Counsel, PowerStation Studios, Redbubble, in addition to partner InventHelp and official sponsor WestEnd Software.
After 12 consecutive years running at Brand Licensing Europe, License This! is now a global competition with this year’s debut in the US market at Licensing Expo Virtual, held August 24-26. “Industry connection is mission-critical in the licensing sector, and the License This! program provides just that: accessibility to a bench of the world’s most influential licensing executives,” said Anna Knight, vice president of Licensing, Informa Markets. “We are so proud of the doors that the program has opened for creatives and inventors over the past 12 years. Many of our former winners have gone on to produce world-class products and licensing campaigns; we love seeing winners and participants return to our annual events as exhibitors to watch.”
The call for submissions closes on July 19. Attendees of Brand Licensing Europe and Licensing Expo Virtual can tune into the live final held on August 25.
“Combining licensed content with product conceptualization creates new, robust innovation in technologies and play patterns that result in powerful consumer experiences,” shared Joe Moll, Director of Product Design, Engineering and Inventor Relations at Crayola and responsible for building an innovative and unique pipeline of Crayola products through cross-functional internal ideation and partnering with the external inventor community. “As a product developer, I am very excited to be a judge at the License This! event this year, and look forward to reviewing the innovative entries and learning how we can best bridge the gap between product inventions and licensing opportunities.”
The competition is made up of three different categories:
- License This! Character & Animation
- License This! Brand & Design
- License This! Inventions & Product Innovations – produced in association with InventHelp
The Character & Animation and Brand & Design categories are aimed at unlicensed brands and properties looking to use the Licensing Expo Virtual platform to secure a licensing deal or agency representation. The applicants are usually illustrator/publishing/animation focused.
The Inventions & Product Innovation category is about tangible product inventions (that are patented or patent-pending) or innovative product designs that would benefit from licensing, either through in-bound (i.e., putting a character on it to enhance it) or out-bound to a manufacturer (i.e., a wearables item that is licensed by a mass manufacturer from the inventor).
The competition provides select illustrators, designers, animators, and product inventors, the exciting opportunity to pitch their concepts in front of a panel of expert judges. This is then broadcasted live during Licensing Expo Virtual to an audience of manufacturers, retailers, and brand owners.
Important dates to note:
- Entries close: Monday, July 19
- Judging day: Friday, July 23
- Competition pre-record: Friday, August 13
- Live finals: Wednesday, August 25
The winner receives the following prize:
- One-to-one consultation with members of the judging panel and competition sponsor WestEnd Software
- Exclusively to the winner of the ‘Inventions & Product Innovations’ category one-to-one consultation with InventHelp
- Free-of-charge turnkey booth at Licensing Expo 2022
- One year’s Licensing International membership
- One year’s Products of Change membership
